The Nightmare Forgotten
by theroostersteeth
Summary: After the disappearance of Team CFVY on their second mission of the year, Ozpin sends Teams RWBY and JNPR to investigate. What they end up finding is an ancient threat that not only has the capabilities to destroy Remnant but the rest of the universe as well.
1. New Orders

Chapter 1: New Orders

The bullheads engine came to an abrupt stop as team JNPR had finished their second away mission for the year. Unlike the first one that had ended in the events of the breach, this one was far more successful. Jaune Arc was making his way out of the bullhead to try and find the nearest trash can, and by making his way, I ment more like sprinting his way.

"Jaune all that running is just going to make you want to throw up even more." Pyrrha Nikos, having been trying to nurture here leader the entire trip home so that he didn't have another 'vomit boy' incident, was just glad he hadn't managed to do it all over her.

Though, thankfully before anything could come out of his mouth, he found a trash can not five feet from the landing pad. As Pyrrha caught up to the knight he was already knelt over, dry heaving into the can.o

Other than the mission being a rousing success, the village they were assigned to overwatch was experiencing a famine, in which they were not fed as properly as they should have been. Thus leading to a lackof anything in their stomachs. They hadn't seen much action thankfully. Only a stray group of beawolfs or a couple of ursai. Nothing not even a student couldn't handle.

"I'm just glad you kept your word." Ren said coming up on the other two members of his team with Nora in tow.

"Hey, since when does an Arc ever go back on it?" Jaune had just stood back up but, almost fell back over from the lack of energy in his system.

Jaune had only ever asked Ren the importance of the village when they were signing up for their second mission in the auditorium. He had mentioned that it was the neighboring village to the one that he and Nora both grew up in. Seeing as that there wasn't another village in miles from the one in question, it only led Jaune to believe that theirs had been destroyed in a possible grimm invasion. Jaune could tell it was a sensitive subject so, he didn't elaborate any further.

"Enough talking, where are the pancakes?!" Nora practically shouted as she blew past Ren, probably making her way to the cafeteria.

"For once, I'm with Nora on this one, lets get to the cafeteria and get some real food instead of...whatever the hell we were forced to eat there." Jaune shuttered at the thought of going through another week without regular food.

"I think they referred to it as 'basic rations'." Pyrrha corrected as they made their way into the main school building.

"Yeah, well, whatever it was, it was barely eatable."

"Well from what I've heard, thats all soldiers in the field rely on." Jaune gave Ren a quizzical look.

"What do you mean?" "Well, when in the harsh times of war, your likely to see little breaks in between fighting, so when those breaks do come, you'll have the basic nutrients you need to keep going when the fighting starts back up." Ren finished. "I suddenly have a huge respect for people in the army." The rest of their trek to the cafeteria was spent in silence.

* * *

As the three teammates rounded the corner to the hallway that led to the cafeteria they were met with screaming.

"What do mean they're not serving pancakes right now!?" The distinct sound of Nora could be heard by anyone just outside the cafeteria.

At this, Jaune turned to Ren. "Duty calls?" Ren in return sent him a glare, before quickly jogging down the rest of the hallway into the cafeteria to prevent Nora from breaking anyone's legs.

Contrary to popular belief, pancakes were not the only thing the hammer wielder in question ate, far from it. Its just that whenever Nora ever woke up from a good nights rest, or got done with something big, she would only opt for pancakes. Everyone still remembers the time they had run out of the ingredients to make said food. Jaune still has nightmares, not to mention their still in the process of remodeling the dorms. Long story short, it wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone involved.

"You know, we should probably be in there helping him." Pyrrha gave Jaune an incredulous look. "Pyrrha, I still have nightmares, I don't want anymore thank you very much."

"Still..." Pyrrha looked down at the floor. Jaune took notice quickly. "Hey, he knows her much better than we do, we'll probably just get in the way." he finished with a hand on her shoulder.

With a slight pink tint in her cheeks she responded with a small "I guess so." 'Even after all this time he still has that effect on me.' The champion thought to herself. "Besides..." Jaune stirred her from her thoughts. "I'm starving and I don't want to waste precious time not eating."

Before they could enter, a familiar cheerful voice could be heard calling their names. "Jaune, Pyrrha wait up!" Ruby Rose, leader of team RWBY was making her way up to the two partners with the rest of her team behind her.

"Oh, hey guys, whats up?" "Nothing much, just got back from our mission, what about you guys?" Yang asked next to her sister.

"Same here, we were just about to get something to eat, I'm guessing you all were doing the same?" Pyrrha said knowingly.

"Yes, indeed, unfortunately the food we were forced to eat while on mission was rather...unbearable." Weiss finished with a look of disgust.

"You and me both snow angel." Before Weiss could freeze Jaunes mouth shut, Blake put a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Where are Ren and Nora?"

Before either of them could respond the sound of plates breaking and wood snapping (hopefully) could be heard from within the doors. "Nora get down from there!" "Not until I have my fluffy goodness!" Jaune looked back over to Blake. "Does that answer your question?" Blake just simply rolled her eyes and followed her team and the sane half of team JNPR into the cafeteria.

* * *

Luckily there wasn't too much damage done, just a couple of plates and a table had not been spared. Nora made it pretty clear to the cafeteria staff that if they didn't start making pancakes around the clock that someone was going to pay with their legs. Aside from the fiasco, the two teams, as per usual sat down with each other at their usual table and talked about their missions.

"...and then there were these 7 huge deathstalkers that came out of no where, luckily, maginhild was super charged by my semblance, thus making short work of all of them!"

Shortly after Nora's little spiel, team RWBY looked to Ren. "Two of them, ursai, and there was no need for you to use that much of your aura."

At this Nora slumped in her seat. "Awwww, Renny your no fun, and plus you know it was awwwesome."

"Still, that much usage was almost enough to put you out for a week." Jaune said, nudging her shoulder.

"You guys know that you don't have to ALWAYS look after me, in fact-"

Before Nora could finish what she was saying the intercom sprang to life, bearing Ms. Goodwitch's voice.

" _To all returning first year students, on behalf of myself and the rest of the beacon staff, I would like to congratulate you for another mission well done...and if they have returned could both teams RWBY and JNPR please report to professor Ozpin's office immediately at this time, that is all, have a pleasant day."_

"Ugh, Ruby, I don't suppose you have anything to do with this?" Weiss, clearly displeased by the situation, asked her leader.

"Why do you expect me to be the cause of this?" she asked making her way to the exit along with her team and JNPR.

"Well sis, considering your the only one to have been called there all year, it only leads us to speculate." Ruby was glaring daggers at Yang. "I can't believe my own sister would say such a thing, you should be ashamed!"

The small outburst managed to get a small chuckle out of everyone except Weiss, worried that this could have some sort of effect on her 'perfect' image. "But, in all seriousness, I hope this isn't anything to bad."

* * *

The two teams had to practically squeeze into the elevator in order to fit everyone. You'd think they would have a limit to these things but it was apparent that whoever made it only thought that maybe four people would use it at once not eight. The girls didn't really have a problem but the two males of the group, not so much. Ren was lucky though, he had a corner in which Nora was practically shielding him from the others, though not intentionally. Jaune though, he was pressed up against Pyrrha and Yang. Pyrrha was clearly having problems with being this close to Jaune where as Yang seemed 100% fine. When Jaune would look at her she would go as far as to smirk and wink in his direction. This getting the desired effect out out of her fellow blonde. Though once the elevator came to a stop and opened up, complete and utter awe was the only thing to describe everyones reactions, aside from Ruby's.

"Impressive isn't it?" Everyone turned to professor Ozpin with a slight smirk occupying his features. "I thought I would go with a gothic stylization with my own personal touch." he said motioning to the clock gears. "Most people would find the noise to be rather bothersome whereas I find it rather...soothing."

The two teams came to a stop in front of his desk, with Jaune and Ruby in the middle and their respective teams on either side. "Yeah, not to mention the view." Jaune said motioning towards the distant city of Vale. "Does it ever get old?" Ozpin simply turned towards the window and turned back. "No...no it doesn't."

He said finishing a drink from his ever present cup of coffee. "As much as I would like to talk pleasantries, I'm afraid we have more pressing matters at hand."

"What might that be?" Blake asked first. "Are you all aware of team CFVY's 'extended' mission." Weiss immediately spoke up. "Yes, due to an abnormally high amount of grimm in their area, they were forced to remain there until all grimm were neutralized to be able to request a bullhead back to beacon."

Ozpin then looked to Weiss and asked "Do you know how long it has been?" At this Weiss looked uncertain. "Umm, no?"

Why should any of them? With their second mission, as well as the vityl tournament coming up there was really no time to bother with any outside interference.

"Just under two months." The two teams looked at each other in disbelief. "The average mission time for first and second years is a week." Ren stated "Team CFVY's extended time was for two, but two months, what happened?"

Ozpin exhaled before continuing. "When I was first told that they were not going to be able to return after the two weeks were up, I asked of their leader, Ms. Coco Adel, to transmit their status to me everyday afterwards just to make sure that everything was ok on their end." The headmaster then reached under his desk and grabbed what looked to be a much bigger version of a scroll, and set it on the desk before continuing.

"One in particular stood out amongst the rest." The two teams looked on in anticipation. "And?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow. "And, I would like you all to hear it."

Ozpin hit the button in the middle thus opening the whole thing. A few more seconds later the distinct sound of Coco could be heard, over the scrolls speakers "Alright so, it looks like we're gonna be able to finally get a ride outta here, almost two months of fighting off grimm can definitely put a notch or two under your belt." There was a brief pause. "Though I am glad that we can finally come home, I can't shake the feeling somethings off." Another pause. "When I say the grimm activity has stopped, I mean completely, I had Fox do a sweep of the area within a two hundred yard radius, and he said there was absolutely nothing in the forest. I mean just yesterday these things were on our door step, now their just gone? It makes me think-" The sudden sound of a scroll ringing made an entrance. "Hold on headmaster its Velvet." A pause again. "What is it Velv- holy shit whats with all the noise? Velvet whats going on? Were under attack!? Not grimm? Velvet your not making any sense. If its not human or grimm then what the hell is-." A faint muffled scream could be heard. "Velvet? VELVET?!" One last pause. "I'll-I'll talk to you latter Ozpin."

With that, all that could be heard was static. The headmaster then calmly closed the scroll and put it back under his desk before speaking. "We received that transmission three weeks ago, and its the last one we have received since."

Rather than shock it was more so confusion that was prevalent between the eight hunters to be. To everyone's surprise Nora asked "What does this have to do with us?" Ozpin simply gave her a small smile.

"Well Miss Valkyrie, I'm simply offering you all a chance to show me your true skill as huntsman and Huntresses."

"Wait, so, what your asking us to do is to go and try and find, and potentially rescue team CFVY?" Ozpin then looked to Jaune. "Precisely Mr. Arc."

It didn't really make any sense. Sending two first year teams to rescue a second year team. If they couldn't handle it then what makes them anymore capable.

"So, why us?" Ruby asked "Why not send a fourth year team, or even a couple of fully trained huntsman?"

Ozpin got up from his seat and made his way around to the front of his desk. "You know how the council can be Miss Rose, they try and cut corners wherever they see fit. Once word of this came about, their simple solution was to send even more students in. Why pay fully trained huntsman when you can just send in two or three untrained teams of them for absolutely no money at all? Now that's not to say you can't refuse the offer. It is entirely up to you and Mr. Arc to make the final call. As for why, well, let's just say your efforts and skills during the breach did not go unnoticed. That is why I did not fully refuse their offer."

Ozpin gave the two teams a once over. "Unfortunately, we are short on time, I need an answer from both of you, now."

The two leaders could feel their teams eyes on them now. Slowly they turned to face their own.

Yang and Nora were clearly on board judging by the wide grins and constant head nodding. Blake and Ren were as neutral as usual, which either ment they didn't care either way or they just didn't want to be where they were now. As for Weiss and Pyrrha they wore completely different expressions.

Weiss wasn't even looking at Ruby. She currently had her head down in thought, and if Ruby knew Weiss well enough that ment she was more than likely on board too. When ever she took the time to think things over before she answered, Ruby had found that hers would usually be yes.

Pyrrha on the other hand definitely was worried to say the least. Jaune had come to expect this over his time with her, and he knew why. Pyrrha was like the team mom, looking after everyone and everything she could, especially Jaune. They were going up against an unknown threat in unknown territory, to them at least. There was no telling what they were up against.

Pyrrha took the time to mouth to Jaune 'You sure?' Jaune simply answered with a nod, 'yeah'. At that point the leaders had turned towards each other. As if knowing their answers already they both smiled at each other and turned towards the headmaster.

"We're in." They said in unison.

"Excellent, I'll inform one of our pilots that you'll be heading out tomorrow morning, so I recommend that you all get a good nights rest, you are all dismissed." The two teams nodded and started towards the elevator, only to be stopped short by Ozpin.

"Oh, I almost forgot, you'll need these." Ozpin once again reached under his desk to reveal eight small orb like objects. The teams stepped forward.

"What are those?" Yang questioned.

"Their microphones, Atlas tactical models, their designed to attach to your skin with small microscopic tethers that latch onto the cartilage in your ear and hold it there so it won't fall out." Weiss finished gaining stares from the other seven.

"Sounds nifty." Was the only thing Yang could muster.

"To save you more confusion, all you have to do to communicate is press the button on the outer part of of the mic to talk to everyone hooked up to the same network, simply press it again to mute yourself." Ozpin finished with understanding nods from the group.

With that said the two teams grabbed the mics and were dismissed. After the students took their leave Ozpin went to stand at the window as the face of General James Ironwood made himself known on the holoscrean on Ozpins desk.

"This is a bad idea Ozpin." The good General told him.

"Have faith James, and besides, I will have a bullhead stationed just outside their position-" "You know that's not what ment." The general interrupted before continuing.

"I mean what if it's actually what the council thinks it is, this could cause widespread panic amongst the rest of the worlds leaders and potentially turn everyone on one another before we have a chance to even start dealing with the problem."

An audible sigh came could be heard by the General. "All I'm asking Ozpin, is what do you plan on doing if this turns out to be true?" Ozpin, still with his back to the holoscrean took a few moments answering.

"We'll proceed ahead of schedule with the maiden transfusion, summon all of our best huntsman, and go from there." The general groaned in announce as if what he heard was ludicrous.

"You know damn good and well that this is a force that we alone as a planet cannot handle alone." With that Ozpin turned to face Ironwood.

"Then what do you think is the best course of action is James, I don't hear you coming up with any expert battle strategy to handle the situation." At the sudden outburst of aggression, Ironwood had to take a step back.

The general had only ever seen Ozpin step out of line once or twice before and that was when they were discussing plans for Amber and the rest of her power. Moments like these were the only times when you could see him come out of his calm demeanor.

"Well for starters, I wouldn't have sent two teams of children as your recon." The headmaster seemingly having regained his composure took to the defense of his students.

"Teams RWBY and JNPR are two of the best teams that I have seen come through my academy in the last twenty years since my appointment as headmaster, their abilities outside of their teams, sans Mister Arc, are second to none, not to mention when they all are coordinating with each other..." Ozpin took the moment to take a sip of his coffee. "...their like a well oiled machine."

"Regardless, sending your children in there is reckless Ozpin, I hope you know what your doing." Ozpin just simply moved to sit back at his desk. "As I said before James have faith, they have yet to disappoint me, and I doubt they'll start now."

 **(A/n)**

 **For my first ever fanfic I thought that turned out ok. Now the same can't be said for you people out there so, do what you guys do best so that I might be able to improve myself and leave a review.**

 **And just to put this out there, there will be no official schedule of me to be able to update this thing due to school and what not, but rest assured I will be working on it in my down time...if I'm note playing destiny and overwatch that is ;)**

 **\- Theroostersteeth**


	2. Ground Zero

Chapter 2

The short briefing that Ozpin had given the two teams before taking off was a little odd to say the least. It wasn't because Jaune was named 'over all' leader either, it was the information given about where they were going. Not that anything seemed out of the ordinary, an old Grimm research facility located on the Vale-Vacuo boarder that was going to be decommissioned in about a years time, and that it was the only one of its kind still operational. It wasn't the information itself that was odd, it was just the lack there of. If even the council thought this was a big deal then you'd think they would have been given copious amounts of it. Not the less than sub par info they got.

'Well, if that doesn't get Pyrrha any more on edge than I don't know what will', Jaune had thought to himself as the two teams were coming up on their destination. The ride had not been merciful to his stomach and he was having problems holding it down. His endeavor not to puke was only made worse by the more rambunctious occupants in the airship.

Nora and Ruby were currently having the most pointless argument of the century on wether or not pancakes were better than strawberries. The other six merely spectating. Jaune himself preferred the former but thinking of food at a time like this wasn't his best course of action.

"Pancakes are the one true queen of deserts and that's final!"

"You take that back, strawberries are the one an only desert that can have that honor!"

"Girls." Jaune finally managed to croak out, gaining their attention. "Let's just agree to disagree at this point, I don't like to see you two fighting, plus my stomach can't take much more of this." He had to wonder why Pyrrha hadn't intervened before now, then he remembered the aforementioned lack of information and turned to see her drowned in her own thoughts.

"Well, I guess pancakes aren't allll that bad."

"And strawberries aren't half bad either." Nora turned to Ruby with a smile. "Truce?"

"Truce, for Jaune's sake." Ruby finished with a glance over at said boy.

"Thank you" he managed to mumble.

After that debacle was settled it wasn't 30 seconds later that the pilot came over the intercom.

"ETA 5 minutes, I repeat ETA 5 minutes, I recommend you all get ready back there."

After the short announcement the two teams did as recommended and stood up and checked their weapons, ammo, and dust. Jaune was the only one who merely needed to glance over at his hip to make sure his weapon was there, which it was. The others not so much. 'Sometimes it pays to keep it simple'.

"Oh no, here it comes." Jaune had been dreading the part where he had to stand, which it having the expected effect on his stomach. At the sudden deceleration Yang made a B-line to the farthest point away from Jaune.

"Nuh-uh vomit boy, I just had these shined."

Luckily before anything came up, Ren was by his side with a doggy bag.

"Thanks" was all that he said before he emptied his stomach into what was now a bag of puke.

"No problem" Ren said simply.

The same pilot from before came over the intercom once more.

"We're here, popping the hatch."

As the side door opened Jaune quickly noticed something was off. It sure as hell didn't look like they were at their destination at all. In fact, from the looks of it, they were hovering. He could of sworn he saw a cloud too. Over what, Jaune had to assume to be their destination. 'Well if we're here then why the hell are we...'

"Oh no."

"You are clear to jump, I repeat you are clear to jump."

"Oh, come on!"

Team RWBY and the rest of his team did as said, although before Pyrrha jumped she simply shrugged at him before following suit, all of them probably landing in some sort of epic fashion, where as he probably would of ate dirt.

"Hey kid, you gonna jump?" the pilot had asked.

"Hell no I'm not gonna jump, I barely survived initiation as is!" he shouted.

"C'mon, your supposed to be a huntsman, aren't you guys supposed to be able to do like...everything."

At this point Jaune had an irritated look on his face. "Last time I checked having to jump out of a bullhead hovering a couple thousand feet in the air wasn't in my job description, so if you would to be so kind as to take me down there that would be much appreciated!"

He could practically here the eye roll in the pilots voice, "Sure, whatever."

"Thank you."

Jaune had to brace himself as his head almost hit the ceiling with the bullhead practically just falling through the air at terminal velocity.

Terrified, he thought to himself 'Maybe I should have jumped.'

At this point Jaune was floating with his stomach towards the ground and his hands holding on to a side railing. He was too busy trying to not be flung out the side to notice any nausea he had, so that was a plus.

It took about 15 seconds for the bullhead to come to a complete stop. In doing so making the lone passenger doa face plant onto the cold hard metal floor. Luckily for him his aura was one for the ages. Jaune, currently dazed, slowly got up, brushed himself off, and made his way out of the airship with the others waiting on him.

"Hope you had a nice flight." The pilot said in the most sarcastic voice possible, before revving the engine up and flying away. In response Jaune decided to turn around to gave him a one finger thank you.

Turning around to the others it was quite clear the majority of them were a little annoyed. "What?"

Weiss turned around and started off into the forest. "Let's just find this place and get this over with." Not wanting to make himself look even worse, he was close behind her and kept his eyes forward to avoid any judging eyes.

* * *

What had once been a fast paced jog turned into a slow attentive walk for the eight students. Something certainly wasn't right with the forest, or at least with this area. If you thought walking in the forest was creepy, knowing Grimm could be behind any tree or bush within sight, than you would think the complete opposite would be much better right? Not really. If anything it just amplified the creepiness factor ten fold. They were used to knowing the Grimm were occupying all parts of the forests in remnant. How did they know there wasn't any?

Simple.

The Grimm were attracted to negative energy and if they sensed it they would come running immediately. They themselves also have the same affect on humans and Faunus. They emit just as much negative energy as they can sense. Which is a lot. And with the usual overwhelming number of Grimm that are in the forest, it was quite clear that there was nothing within a mile or two of their area.

"You all feel that right?" Blake had asked from the back of the pack. "It's more like what we can't feel." Jaune yelled back.

"Well, it's good to see Coco's information was useful."

"P-money, if you don't mind me asking, why are you so flustered with Ozpin's Intel?" Yang didn't want to set her off but, it was quite clear that she wanted to vent by the constant verbal thoughts that probably weren't meant to be said out loud while they had been walking.

"Aren't any off you?" She asked back. "How could you all be so calm when this is clearly out of our depth, at first it didn't seem all bad but with how cryptic headmaster Ozpin was being with the briefing, I wouldn't be this on edge, it's as if he's hiding something he doesn't want us to know about."

Weiss came up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe, your just reading too much into it, you know how he can be."

"She's right you know." Ren threw in.

With a sigh Pyrrha conceded. "Ok, but if we do encounter something not known to us, promise me you'll back us out." She said to Jaune. "I promise, and you know the saying!"

"An Arc never goes back on his word." The group echoed

"You bet your ass!"

* * *

"Think this is it?" "What else could it be Nora?" Ruby asked here fellow energetic.

"I don't know a pancake factory, oh how I wish it was!"

The pack just looked at her and sighed. "You really need to go on a diet." Ren said.

"Oh whatever, let's go!"

The facility wasn't at all what Jaune was expecting. If he was being honest with himself he really didn't know what he was expecting. An actual building out in the middle of the forest was the closest thing he could think of. Not what looked to be just a large metal wall on the side of a small mountain like formation in a clearing. If anything just another thing to add to the creepy list.

"Ok Jaune, what's the plan?" Weiss asked first surprisingly. Even though he hadn't thought of any actual plan as of yet he was pretty good when thinking on the fly. He thought back to what Coco had Fox do and thought that would be a good place to start.

"Well for starters, Blake you remember what Coco had Fox do?" She nodded in response. "Well, take Ren and do the same thing, if you see any Grimm make sure to take them out, and as for anything out of the ordinary report it back to me before you do anything." The ninjas both nodded to one another before taking back off into the forest.

Now a party of four seemed like the most reasonable amount of people to go in but, the question was what would the other two do? Then Jaune realized. 'Security.' He would have them simply guarding the door in case anything Blake or Ren missed in the forest managed to find the entrance, or anyone. Jaune looked at the girls around him and realized he had the two perfect candidates.

"Nora, Yang you guys will be on security duty up here, make sure nothing gets past you, and if you think whatever it is is going to be too much for you guys to handle, tell us and we'll come running." Nora put her hand up in a mock salute. "Aye aye, fearless leader!" She proceeded to take up position on the left side of the door. Yang just scoffed and moved to the right. "Too much for us to handle my ass."

Jaune looked over the rest of the girls. "The rest of us are going in."

"Sweet, let's just hope there isn't that much too explore." Ruby said readying crescent rose.

Weiss just scoffed, "Ruby its a research facility, there are likely tons of sub levels to this place."

Jaune lined up on the left side of the door along with Ruby behind him and Pyrrha and Weiss opposite to them.

"Still, let's just hope we aren't in there long.

Pyrrha just sighed, "I wouldn't count on it."

* * *

"Ok gentlemen, I understand, have a good evening."

Talking to the council had always been strenuous on Ozpin. Not only with the council pressuring him to do something about the recent disappearance of several Atlas execs who had been in Vale at the time and had never been heard of or seen by anyone since. It was clear to Ozpin what had happened and he had a feeling the council knew as well but wanted to make sure just so they could either blame him for his negligence or Ironwood for sending them in. Him sending teams RWBY and JNPR in were meant to appease them for awhile. After all it was their idea.

He also had to deal with them trying to take away his position as headmaster at beacon. They had been trying for the past few years but due to some outside interference surprisingly unknown to him he had yet to be stripped of his position. To be frank, everyone on the council was either an asshole or too inept to try and argue for themselves so they just followed everyone else's lead.

Ozpin sighed and brought his mug to his lips only to find it was dry He could of sworn it was full less than a few seconds ago, having just been brought in by Glynda. I guess that's what stress can do to you.

"Glynda?" he had asked raising the mug.

His companion who had been standing next to him typing on her tablet looked over and rolled her eyes. "Alright."

She took it out of his hands and made her way to the elevator. Before she could even touch the button Ozpin had called out to her.

"Oh and Glynda, do try and not 'accidentally' give me decaf, the last time that happened I almost didn't finish my paperwork." After he finished the ghost of a knowing smirk could be seen on his face which was extremely noticeable by Glynda.

"I'll make sure it doesn't happen again." she said simply. She wasn't really in the mood for another 'calm arguement' as she had dubbed them. The lateness of the hour was getting to her and she really wanted to get some sleep. So she conceded and proceeded to get in the elevator and head down to the teachers lounge.

His office was quite once again and that only left Ozpin to his thoughts. 'I should really get a coffee maker up here, that way I always...'

The silence was once again broken when no less than 10 feet away the glass to his tower shattered spraying glass in every direction. The culprit, Qrow Branwen, was currently knelt over in a breathing fit, likely due to the altitude he had to fly to accomplish what he just had.

The instant he saw him Ozpin knew what it was about. He would play it off has he normally did, not that he had any other way of dealing with situations like these. He was many things, Qrow was. A huntsman, a member of Ozpin's group, and even on some if not all occasions an alcoholic, but Ozpin knew he valued being an uncle the most out of all these things. His only hope was that he wasn't drunk at the moment.

"Qrow?"

The huntsman stood up to his full height without saying a word and turned towards Ozpin and made his way over to his desk. All the while Ozpin looked on in what seemed like mild amusement.

The man stopped and narrowed his eyes. Ozpin merely stared back. "You know, this is a bit impromptu don't you think?"

"Is it true?"

"Well Qrow, I'm afraid you are going to have to be a little more specific."

Despite the entrance, Qrow had already promised himself that he wasn't going to do anything too over the top, but Ozpin as usual, was making it quite the endeavor not to.

"Is it true that you sent both of my nieces to Bedlam?" Ozpin quirked an eyebrow before asking, "And from where or whom did you hear this from?"

"Who do you think?"

"Oh, I didn't think you and Ironwood talked much." Qrow slammed both of his fists on Ozpin's desk. "And I didn't think you were a backstabbing son of a bitch!"

Now Ozpin was truly confused at this point. What made him such? Just for sending two of the best huntresses in the academy off with six (five really) just as capable hunters to prove their mettle to him? He thought he was doing them a service.

"Please, enlighten me as to why I am a...backstabbing son a bitch."

Qrow was is disbelief. Was Ozpin really that dumb, that ignorant? "Oh I don't, for sending what little family I have left off to possibly die, and for what, to rescue another team of misguided kids that are already dead? I already lost my sister to those thieves and murders that she considers family, I rarely ever get to see Tai anymore, and Summer, well I think we both know what happened to her."

This time it was Ozpin's turn to glare at Qrow. He had given Summer her options, she weighed them, and she did what she thought was right. There was nothing Ozpin could have done. It was her choice and she chose, there was nothing more to say on the matter.

"I thought you were better than that, taking advice from the council of all places. It's not like they really know what's going on in this world like we do. Their just like every other rich Atlas fuck, not giving a damn about what goes on out in the world around them, so long as their suits not ripped. But this is the thanks I get from you, after all I've done, is it?"

Both men were silent until Ozpin took his time to speak. "I was unaware that you had such little faith in your nieces abilities. I would of thought you would have been more confidant with them."

Qrow's face shifted into something one could only describe as both confused and...constipated?

"Are you trying to piss me off?"

Ozpin stood and made his way over to the man, who currently was trying not to have an ulcer.

"On the contrary, I just would of thought you would have better faith in both of them, and plus they are with friends and their own team. I assure you Qrow that I have all the things in place to get all of them out safely in case things do indeed take a turn for the worst. You have nothing to worry about."

Qrow took a step away from him with his hands in the air towards the new hole. "You know, I'm actually going to take your word for it, really, before I do something I might regret."

Ozpin gave him a small smile. "Well I'm glad to hear it."

Before Ozpin could turn around though Qrow put a finger in his face. "But, if one of them so much as has a scratch on them when they come back, your not going to have a tower to sit on anymore."

After he was done he silently turned around and jumped off the tower only later to be seen as a crow fly off into the distance.

Ozpin looked on but was interrupted by the sound of the elevator hitting his floor. Glynda stepped out wordlessly and made her way over to Ozpin with the hole in the glass in plain sight. When Glynda got to him she gave him his coffee in which she received a thank you.

"Let me guess, Qrow?"

"Qrow." Ozpin confirmed.

* * *

"Alright, remember what we practiced?" Pyrrha looked up to Jaune and nodded. "Just try not to over extend."

"Uh, what are you two talking about?" Ruby looked between the two. "Just stay back a bit, something we have been practicing." Ruby just hummed and looked to Weiss to make sure she was giving Pyrrha space as well.

Jaune and Pyrrha readied their respected weapons as Jaune counted down. "3...2...1, breaching, breaching!" With as much leg power as he could muster, Jaune stepped in between the double doors and kicked them open. He followed through with his left leg until he was kneeling with his shield in front of him on the ground. Pyrrha then stepped behind him with mîlo in its rifle form in an attempt to take down any target in the room, which luckily there were none.

"Clear?" Jaune asked with a look back. Pyrrha gave him another nod. "All clear."

He then stood up, and motioned for the rest of his group to follow him in. After the first few steps the lights in the room lit up, too the surprise of the four students. It was clear that the 'main lobby' of sorts was just a large security checkpoint with multiple rows of gates and conveyor belts for scanning purses and boxes and the such. You could say it was like one you would see at an airport but much bigger. It was quite clear that these guys were extremely thorough.

"Hm, ok now that that is out of the way I have three questions." Weiss having been in the back of the group came to the front and faced the other three.

"Um, ok...shoot." Jaune said

"Ok, first off, was it really necessary to shout breaching breaching?"

Jaune in response scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "I don't know, I thought it would have sounded...cool I guess?" he finished with a chuckle.

Weiss just rolled her eyes. "Well you sounded like a complete dunce."

Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder as he slumped where he stood, while Ruby tried to stifle her giggles.

"Second, why was the door closed, if this place was under attack you'd think that the thing would have been blown off its hinges or something?"

The three others just looked at each other. "Your right, that doesn't make sense." Ruby confirmed. "Yeah, I hadn't really been paying that much attention until now."

"That is quite strange." Pyrrha couldn't do anything but agree at this point. Her nerves couldn't take much more at all.

"And three, does it look like there was a fight in here, I mean there are no bodies, no blood, no bullet holes, you can not tell me it looks like there wasn't?!" She finished with both her arms out, motioning all around the room.

Indeed there was nothing at all in the room, aside from some things left on the conveyer belts and some stray paper on the ground. Other than that, there was nothing.

"Ok ok." Jaune had come up to her and had his hands up. "I know it looks weird but, we have a job to do, and we're not gonna get anything done by just standing around and pointing out any and all irregularities we see." Weiss had been giving him a pointed look the entire time. "Let's just get in, find any at all survivors and get out, ok?"

Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "If I die I'm suing your family."

"O-k, anyway let's go."

He motioned for the girls to follow as he passed through one of the many gates that were lined up perfectly next to each other. The alarm went of as he passed and that same noise could be heard three more times behind him as he walked.

Jaune would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't on edge too. At first, as Pyrrha had already stated everything seemed normal, but as they progressed he could tell there was something going on. Ever since he had gotten to beacon he had noticed his danger senses had gotten more keen at detecting danger, if you could call having a stomach ache 'danger senses'. Which was why he had been nauseas the entire walk over here.

The only reason he didn't say anything was because he was the leader. He thought he had to try and keep everyone calm and continue on mission despite the very notable discrepancies they had noticed. Whatever was going on he just hoped it didn't affect them directly.

After they passed through the security checkpoint they proceeded down a fairly large corridor with varying doors on either side, likely just offices or small rooms for experimenting. No one really felt like looking though, more out of uncertainty than anything else. At the very end though they noticed that there was what looked like a dip at the end. It wasn't until they got there that they realized it was just a staircase, and there was a vaguely familiar smell coming from below.

"Ugh, any idea what's down there?" Pyrrha asked bringing a hand to her nose. "Well, there's only one way to find out."

Jaune had taken the first step, but stopped to look back up with a smirk. "Stairway to hell, anyone?" The humor in what was supposed to be a joke clearly didn't make its way across to the others. Rather than humored smiles, there were instead looks of complete and utter horror. "Ugh, heh sorry."

* * *

Luckily the staircase wasn't as long as they thought it was, having probably only gone down about six or seven flights of stairs. What awaited them though was enough to make the breach look like day at the beach. The room itself had terminals, computers, cages, and even incubators to monitor younger Grimm, but it was the fact that they were all broken and or damaged with either blunt force or bullet holes. Blood had been splattered all over the walls and ground. There was just one problem.

"Uh, if there is this much blood e-every where, t-then...where are the bodies?" Ruby had found her voice after the initial shock. "That..." Jaune started, "is a good question."

None of them had been this exposed to anything like this before, especially Ruby. Sure, they had seen it in cheap action movies, but still nothing in those had ever been quite this extreme. Jaune didn't know what to do at this point. Every fiber of his being was screaming to just turn around and leave. Yet the more he looked on, the more he was compelled to stay and try and find survivors, or any Intel into what happened.

"Jaune?" He turned to Pyrrha who had been staring at him for the better part of a minute. The look on her face said all he needed to know. "Not yet." Her eyes widened as if she had just seen a puppy been kicked.

"What did you promise me?" she asked almost in a pleading manor.

"Look I know, alright I know, but I can't help just but think we could be leaving someone down here without even looking, I don't want to leave, not yet." he finished with a pleading look of his own.

Silence fell between them all. Ruby and Weiss were a little uncomfortable considering they just had to sit and endure a small argument and weren't really compelled to speak up, but Ruby knew if she didn't say anything she didn't think anything would get solved.

"I-I agree." she stuttered. The three peered over at her and held their gazes. "I mean, what if there is someone down here that needs our help, it's our job to do these types of things when others can't, so, I think we should stay."

The three looked on in mild shock. Sure Ruby was a leader but, they knew in these types of situations she would not have been as vocal as she just was. Social ineptitude, having usually been holding her back.

With a sigh Weiss concurred. "I know what I said up there, but we really should take a look around, even if it's just for a moment." After she spoke she gave Pyrrha a incredulous look that was meant to say 'your out numbered'. Pyrrha seemed to have gotten the notion and for what felt like the second time that day she conceded.

"Fine." Was all she could muster.

"Thank you, anyway..." Jaune moved to the front of the three. "I think we should start out by spreading out in this room and just try to find anything, something that lead to whatever happened here, considering there aren't really any good hiding spots from what I can tell." The three nodded in response.

"Ok, Ruby, Weiss take the front two corners, me and Pyrrha will take the back, yell if you find anything."

As the four spread out Jaune took his time to look over his area. His corner of the fairly large research area had a ton of the aforementioned broken terminals and computers. In the very corner though it had a extremely large cage that seemed to be for something the size of a growing deathstalker. He couldn't remember the exact size the one him and his team killed during initiation, mainly due to the fact he tried to force the memory of almost dying from his head.

On all sides there were obvious tools for poking and prodding the creature for experimentation. The thing that irked him though was that the cage was wide open. The bars had been scratched up pretty badly due to its apparent last occupant, and from what he could tell the whole thing was electrified too. He didn't really know what that would do considering grimm are always in none stop kill mode.

Moving away from the cage he started down a row of computers that had an obscenely amount of blood everywhere. Not that was any different from the rest of the room, it just freaked him out.

As far as he could see each one had been beaten up pretty badly. Glass and shrapnel littered the area around each one. He assumed they were for data collecting and the such, seeing as they were facing towards the cage for observational purposes.

Jaune thought that even though he hadn't been searching that long he felt the need to sit down. All that walking had been getting to him.

When his butt hit the seat he let out the loudest relaxed moan he himself had ever heard and leaned back. "That hit the spot." Despite it being wood, standing and walking for almost 4 hours can make anything feel comfortable.

He looked around the room to see if any of the girls had heard him but there was too much crap in the way. If any of them had heard it they had yet to question what he just did, likely all of them having done the same thing.

When Jaune finally leaned forward and out of his musings something had caught his eye. On the desk in front of him was a access pass or something of the sort. It formerly being all white around the edges having been bloodied up since. The picture on the card was of what looked to be of a man in his late twenties with glasses. He had light red hair and a tanned complexion to top it off. The owner was of a one Flare Songbird. Under him it said head executive.

Jaune was about to call out when the emblem behind the man stopped him from opening his mouth further.

It was the SDC logo.

"What the...?"

Now that was extremely strange, or at least to Jaune it was.

Back when Jaune was in his last year at primary school before coming to beacon he had been taught about kingdom relations and affairs. He was taught that no company that was run by another kingdom had the right to work within another's boarders unless given specific access, and from what he also learned the last time this ever happened was about 30 years ago, having it been a rare thing to begin with.

He began to weigh his options. For some reason he felt extremely compelled to keep it to himself and ask Weiss about it when they were alone. Although the chances of that happening were quite slim. He had to find a way to split everyone up again. He wasn't sure how but...

He was interrupted by his scroll ringing. Why would someone be calling him now? He reached into his pant pocket and opened it to see Blake's face next to the answer button. I was a bit weird considering they had mics. Whatever it was it couldn't be good.

He pressed the answer button to find her on a tree branch by the looks of it. "Jaune."

"What is it Blake?"

"Are you alone?"

She didn't sound panicked in any way which was not exactly telling of anything considering her usual state of being. He was just glad she didn't sound it. He was a little worried about her question though.

"Yeah."

"Ok, I'm sending you some photos I took of some grimm footprints I found out here. I'll explain why, just hold on."

It wasn't ten seconds later that his scroll made a noise and he pulled up the pictures she had taken.

"What about these now?"

"Right, well for one there are from an ursai, one that had likely gotten separated from its pack."

He nodded in understanding as he flipped through them, trying to pick out anything out of the ordinary.

"One thing to take note of is the unusually large gate it was taking. The usual would have been about three inches shorter that of the one shown. The only time that you could see something like that with another animal is if it were running away from something. Now if it were running too something then the gate would have been only an inch and a half bigger." Blake finished, Jaune taking in everything she said with a little uneasiness.

"Ok, two things, where did you learn this and what are you trying too say?"

"I was in the white fang remember, I have some skills that I most certainly wouldn't have acquired at a junior huntsman academy." Blake answered.

"And to answer your other question, as weird as it sounds, I would say that this thing was indeed running away from something else. Judging by the evidence I have here."

Jaune was a little confused. "I thought Grimm didn't, y'know, like, run a way from stuff?"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Your right, that's why I'm letting you know."

"Oh, right well, I'm not exactly sure what to make of this." It definitely had him scratching his head.

"Well whatever it was, it has the grimm afraid, and that can't be good."

"Yeah...I'm guessing this is why you called me instead of using your mic."

Blake sighed. "I know there could be someone down there. Making this public would only make Pyrrha want to leave even more, and possibly get under the skin of the others."

Jaune chuckled. "Yeah, tell me about it."

There were a few seconds of awkward silence after that. They were never really ones for small talk when alone with each other, which was very seldom. Being from completely different ends of the spectrum could do that when not given enough time to get to know one another.

"Ok well, thanks for letting me know. Go get Ren and go back to the entrance. Tell him its your idea." Nobody needed to know about the conversation anyway.

"Alright, and Jaune, stay safe." He nodded. "You too."

With that the line went dead and he closed his scroll and put it back in his pocket. As he stood up he did the same with the pass card he just found. He was about to yell out but was interrupted for a second time by Ruby from the other side of the room.

"Guys, you need to see this!"

After she was done he took off down the row of computers into the more open part of the room which was in the middle. Ruby had already gotten there with Weiss and Pyrrha standing beside her. As he ran up to the trio he noticed what Ruby held in her hands looked vaguely familiar when he thought about it. He didn't really know what from though.

He came to as stop in front Ruby and asked. "What is it?"

"It's..."

"Velvet's weapon." Weiss finished for her.

'Oh, that explains it he thought. "Hey, I thought she wasn't finished with it yet."

"What gave you that idea?" Weiss asked.

"Well for starters I haven't seen her use it in class, only her freakish hand to hand skills."

"I think that was Coco's fault." Pyrrha added. "I remember her saying something about saving the reveal for something big."

"Oh right, she did say that." Ruby confirmed.

Jaune looked between the three questioningly. "Since when do all of you talk to team CFVY?"

"Well, it's usually when we're in advanced combat class." Ruby said.

Jaune went to say something with his finger pointed but decided against it due to the sudden feeling of slight annoyance, having realized he was the only one of the eight who wasn't in said class.

"Hey, what do think your doing!?" Weiss yelled at Ruby who was looking quite bashful. "Uh, nothing, heh."

"You should have more respect for people's privacy."

"Well I'm sorry if she insists on keeping it a secret, the suspense is killing me!"

Weiss, knowing better, took the box away from her and turn the girl around. She then proceeded to unlatch crescent rose from her back and put the box in its place. Weiss recalled that Ruby and Velvet both had the same mechanisms to strap their weapons to their backs. She then turned her back around and placed crescent rose in the hands of its owner. "Knowing you you'll probably sneak off somewhere and try and take a peek."

Ruby visibly deflated at the lack of trust from her partner, and hung her head.

"Right..." Jaune started. "anyway, Weiss, Pyrrha what about you guys?"

"Nothing." Weiss answered.

Pyrrha then stepped forward. "Well, I didn't find anything of material value, but I did happen to come across a pair of doors." Jaune nodded. "Show me."

Pyrrha proceeded to guide the other three to the doors that stood roughly three feet apart. A lone sign in the middle that had 'mess hall' and 'living quarters' with arrows indicating which one was which.

"Uh, I didn't think people would wanna actually sleep here, considering your just a room away from blood thirsty monster." Ruby spoke up. "It must be one of those things where you do it long enough you don't even think about it even more." The others just nodded in agreement.

"So, what now?" Weiss asked

Jaune once again thought about his next move. And he knew exactly what it was too. He just didn't think Pyrrha would handle it well...or Weiss for that matter. With out much further thought he spoke.

"Pyrrha, take Ruby and check out the living quarters, Weiss and I will scope out the cafe." There were a few seconds of silence and to his overall surprise, Pyrrha went with it. She simply looked up at him, nodded, and motioned for Ruby to move through the door which was wide open. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw the two red clad girls move through the portal. 'Whew, that was easy, now all that's left is...' he turned to Weiss only to see her glaring at him 'Weiss'.

"Whatever it is you planning, don't even think about trying it." That was all she said before she strode off into the cafeteria.

'Whelp, this should be interesting'.

(A/n)

Chapter 2 in the books! Puns aside I think this chapter turned out much better than the first. Especially in length. That's why I kind of left it off weird there at the end to not over do it. Although that might just be me trying to make sure everything is perfect but, oh well.

Anyway, sorry for the wait, and I hope you enjoyed!

-theroostersteeth


	3. Down Below

Chapter 3

Despite actually being very capable of traversing through forest canopies, Ren would have to say it got to him quick. Sure he was one of the more agile students at beacon but, he sure as hell wasn't good at outlasting people in a fight. There was only one problem. His stamina.

It was really the only thing holding him back from being a great fighter. He would be in the top ten in his class but, thanks to everyone already knowing about it everyone mainly took advantage of it. If they could get away from him that is. Ren made sure to almost never disengage in a one on one just to get it over with quickly.

That's why at the moment he was nodding off in a tree. Again, Ren was by no means a slacker, but nobody was around to watch him so, he said screw it. 'Jaune probably wouldn't approve.' He thought. 'But it's not like he can stop me.'

As he closed his eyes he felt himself ever so slightly coming closer and closer to his dreamscape. Just when he thought sleep would take him, he heard a noise. Now normally this wouldn't have bothered him considering they were out in the forest, and forests tend have a lot of noises in them right? Of course. The thing was is that it was the farthest thing that sounded like an animal or Grimm for that matter.

To put it into words, the closest thing he could say it was, was a disembodied gurgle. His knowledge of Grimm, sans maybe Blake and Weiss, far exceeded the average first year, having been on the road with Nora most of his life up until beacon. He had seen and fought things most of his friends wouldn't believe. Nora though was ignorant to it all, which he was actually thankful for. Never once had he ever heard such a noise in his life.

Sitting up on his branch, Ren peaked over the edge carefully being as quiet as possible and keeping an ear out. His senses were also the reason he was alive to this day, but he didn't sense anything at the moment, which was a bit strange.

Silently, making sure not to land on any branches or leaves he jumped off the branch and thankfully landed with a quiet thud. Once he hit the ground he flipped both of his guns out of his sleeves and began skulking around the trees in the vicinity.

So far everything had gone quiet, and by quiet he meant dead silent. He remembered hearing a few birds earlier and now all of a sudden they decided to stop singing. The whole situation went from peaceful and calm, to silent and erie real quick, and it had him a bit on edge. Ren wasn't one to lose his cool but he was wondering if he was truly losing it.

Thankfully for his own sanity he heard a tree branch crack to his right. He immediately adjusted himself towards the noise and moved towards it, beads of sweat rolled down his face with each passing step. Soon he came to a stop behind a fairly large tree and put his side to it. Checking both halves of storm flower he braced himself. With the faint sounds of footsteps coming from behind the tree, he moved.

As he came from behind the tree he had his eyes closed briefly and when he opened them he was met with the bewildered amber eyes of his fellow ninja Blake Belladonna.

"Ren?" she had asked. "Is everything ok?"

Taking the time to holster, or sleeve in his case, his guns he gave her a stiff nod.

"Yes, just thought I heard something." Blake carefully looked around and focused her hearing for anything at his response.

Silence.

"Ok well, we've been out here awhile and my recon hasn't been too successful, we should probably head back."

Ren was a little taken aback at her suggestion, but wasn't to the point where he was completely against it. Plus he hadn't had much luck either, other than that noise he just heard.

"I couldn't agree more." he said

When he finished Blake turned and started walking. He was right behind her, but not without a look back over his shoulder, before he was right next to her. When he caught up to her, to his surprise she started talking to him.

"I've heard you like to go to the library often, read anything good?" The question and the way she asked it sounded foreign to him, coming from her. She sounded genuinely curious. He had never had a one on one with her, despite how often their teams hung out. This was new to him.

"Uh, nothing in particular, recently I've just gone to study up on midterms, haven't had much time for recreational reading." Now that he thought about it he hadn't had time to sit down and read a good book, mainly due to team training and Nora being Nora. He made a mental note to do just that when they got back.

He glanced over at her and, was she blushing? "Well, there is this really good book series that I recommend reading, it's really graphic, and has a really good plot." Well he wasn't objected to reading something graphic, and if Blake said it had a good plot then it must be pretty good, considering she reads all the time.

"Sure, I'll check it out, what's it called?" She looked down for a few seconds before looking at him. "It's called ninjas of..."

Before she finished a explosion rang out in the distance.

It didn't take long for Ren to figure out the cause as his eyes grew wide before taking off towards the facility. From what he could gather Blake was right behind him as well, judging by the panting. Although he was too worried to even give her a second look as three more explosions rang out. He picked up his pace and soon enough he got close enough to hear the sound of Yang's gauntlets going off as well.

After a few more seconds of running he reached the edge of the clearing and burst through it. Once he did though he almost had his legs blown off by one of Nora's grenades that seemed to have missed..her...target?

Now laying on the ground he did a once over of the area and noticed there wasn't anyone else but Nora and Yang in the clearing. That didn't make any since.

For what possible reason Nora had been shooting her grenade launcher with reckless abandon was beyond him. Sure Ren knew she was crazy, but not this crazy. If he knew her as well as he did she would have rather of blown something up instead of just wasting them.

The ringing in his ears subsiding, he heard a few pairs of feet running to him. "Ren!" Nora being one of the pairs of feet yelled. Now sitting he looked up at his best friend/assailant with a questioning look on his face.

"I'm not mad." Was the first thing out of his mouth. "I would just like to know the reason why."

Nora visibly calmed down once he had said that. She couldn't stand when he was mad at her. Not because she was scared of him, no. She was scared of not hearing his voice for a week. That thought alone was enough to make her tear up.

"Well we got board, so I came up with an idea to have a little fun." Yang had answered for Nora. "Which was...?" Blake asked.

"For Nora to shoot her grenades into the air, and for me to take them out, I was actually perfect until you came into the clearing, sorry." Yang finished with a hand down to Ren which he gladly accepted.

"So let me get this straight, your idea of fun is to waste ammo?" Blake asked with a glare.

Yang just scratched the back of her head. "Well when you put it like that of course it sounds bad."

"I'm just glad you're both ok, we heard the explosions and thought you guys encountered something."

"You and Jaune are just worry worts aren't ya?" Ren gave Nora a look. "Well sorry for caring." Nora just giggled.

After that situation was settled everything went quiet.

"So" Yang started. "did you guys find anything?"

Blake answered first. "Only some Grimm footprints, nothing out of the ordinary."

When she finished everyone looked to Ren for his findings. "Nothing except a...strange noise." Everyone looked at him questioningly. "What do mean strange noise?" Nora asked.

"Well it's hard to explain, it kind of sounded like..." Mid sentence he was cut off by said noise from earlier, except this time it was much, much louder.

Simultaneously all four of their heads looked back into the forest with wide eyes.

"that."

* * *

The facility's cafeteria was not up to standards, or at least to Weiss. If you thought about it, those were really high standards. Then again the state it was currently in was an exception of course. The same scene could be seen in this room as in the other. One thing that was different was that there were trays of uneaten food on some of the tables scattered throughout the room.

Despite that though, Weiss was now dealing with a new problem and that problem rhymed with faun park. She thought this thing between them had been settled, although not directly between the two but through Neptune.

'Ugh...Neptune.'

Sure, she was grateful for what Jaune had done but, Neptune obviously wasn't in it for the 'long haul', as she had heard Yang refer to it has. She was looking for a relationship that would last. If it were going to be with someone she didn't want it to be with someone like him anyway, and she sure as hell didn't want it to be with anyone her father set her up with. She just hoped Jaune didn't have any plans.

As soon as she knew he had entered the room behind her she turned on him. "What do want?"

Jaune had managed to stop about two steps in front of her. The question he got was just about what he was expecting. He had prepared for it but that didn't stop him from rolling his eyes.

"Ok, well it's not what you think." he started, gaining a raised eyebrow in response.

"Really, what is it then?" He scratched his cheek and glanced around the room. Thinking back on it he never really had been alone with her like this before. It made it a bit awkward for him.

"Ahem?" Oh, right.

He reached down into his pocket and pulled the I.D. card out and held it up to her. "This is what."

Weiss glanced at his out stretched hand and then back to him. "Your scroll is what you wanted to talk about?"

He looked at her questioningly before turning to look at it himself. It indeed was his scroll.

With a deep sigh and a few muffled curses he shoved his scroll back down into his left pocket before reaching into his right. With his luck he'd probably somehow have a second one on him.

Before pulling it out he made sure it was the card and only then did he show it to her. When she caught sight of the SDC's logo on it she ripped it out of his hands. "Hey, watch it!" Jaune yelped.

She ignored him completely and began to study the card thoroughly. 'Hm.'

"Where did you find this?" she asked. "It was on one of the desks in the research room, I thought maybe I might show it to you and get your take." He finished motioning to the room behind them. Weiss just looked back at the card.

"This has no business being here, what on remnant could-." Jaune took a step closer once she didn't finish her sentence. "What is it?"

"The name." she responded.

"What about it?"

"It...sounds familiar." At the response Jaune gave her a deadpan stare. "Is that it?"

"Hey, at least it's something, I'm just trying to figure out where I've heard it from." 'Flare Songbird, Flare Songbird.'

They stood there for another five minutes, Weiss thinking and Jaune waiting.

"C'mon Wiess, if you can't think of anything we should probably take a look around or it'll be Winter by the the time you do." As soon as he finished, with the speed that could match Ruby's she turned toward him. "That's it!"

Eyes wide Jaune could only question. "What is?"

"Winter, my sister Winter, the last time I talked to her, I remember her offhandedly mention this person's name." she explained "In what context?"

"If I remember correctly it had something to do with them not reporting in when they were supposed to." Jaune had suddenly started to feel sick to his stomach again. "Well he must have been pretty important if Winter even gave him a second thought." Weiss finished looking up at Jaune.

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, well that's another reason why being here doesn't feel right, and even I'm starting to get fed up with it."

"Aren't you the one who insisted we stay?" she asked at his remark. "Well it's becoming increasingly clear to me that Pyrrha was spot on, that whatever went down here is way out of our league. The only thing still keeping me from calling it quits is guilt of not finding anybody down here." He finished with a finger to his head to get his point across.

"Oh." Was all Weiss could say.

"Anyway." he continued. "Let's do our job and we'll head back up, take the kitchen I'll stay out here."

Weiss did as she was told with a nod, albeit hesitantly. She had never quite seen Jaune like this before. Then again the same could be said for Pyrrha. When she looked into his eyes she could see the once determined yet goofy boy she was used to, having an internal war with himself. This situation must be really eating away at him. 'Maybe me not being selected as leader was a good thing after all.'

She gave him one last look over her shoulder before entering the surprisingly small kitchen. You'd think it be much bigger seeing as people lived here. Although the number a people who actually did was a mystery so maybe there was a reason for it. There were a couple of ovens and stoves in the middle with refrigerators and coolers on the outer circle. Some were in place while others were tipped over with the same amount of blood as everywhere else.

Weiss surveyed carefully, looking behind and even inside a few of the refrigerators. Most of her progress was impeded though mainly due to the blood. What she was wearing costed a lot more money than everyone thought. Despite her job, she tried everything she could not to get dirtied up. Only when it was required was she mildly ok with it.

At one point she came across fridge that was a bit larger than all the others. It was located on the far wall which in all honesty kind off made since seeing as if you were going for symmetry it would put the whole room together. Although the coloring was a bit off from all the others.

Weiss knew a secret entrance when she saw one.

The Schnee mansion was full of the things. Whenever her father was away herself along with Winter would explore them for hours. Klein of course being Klein would always vouch for them if they were late getting back. It was the only real part of her childhood she missed.

Sure enough when she went to look down the back there was definitely a concealed entrance. "Jaune!"

"Yeah?"

"Get in here!"

Not a minute later he was at her side. "What did you find?" She motioned towards the large obstacle before them.

"A refrigerator...those are quite common you know." She rolled her eyes at his smart alec remark.

"Not the fridge you dolt, look behind it." Jaune raised his eye before slowly walking over and taking a peek behind it.

"Oh, your right." he said before walking back to the front. "That's not inconspicuous in any way."

"C'mon, help me move it."

Jaune went to move and noticed that Weiss hadn't. "Aren't you gonna help?" he asked.

"Your stronger than me aren't you, you should be able to handle it fine." He stood there a moment, staring at her incredulously.

"Ugh, fine." And with that he went to work.

The whole ordeal only took about two minutes, revealing two large steel doors after the fact.

"I wonder where these lead." Weiss had said aloud in her own curiosity.

"Probably nowhere good." Jaune stated. He knew what she was thinking, and that most certainly didn't bode well with him.

Jaune though couldn't blame her. Her family name wasn't exactly looked upon in a good light. If this particular incident managed to get to the public and they managed to find more of these name tags, then they would have a direct link to the company, good or bad. The media tended to twist and turn things to their liking and he was for sure they would try and make whatever happened here the SDC's fault.

Not that Jaune actually had any reason to care for the companies reputation itself. Hell he really didn't like them to any capacity, after hearing some of the horror stories that came out of their dust mines. Those poor Faunus. Although the only reason he had any inclination to care was standing right next to him.

Sure Weiss had been a complete and utter bitch to him, but even Jaune had realized that was of his own doing. Plus ever since the dance she had been somewhat nicer to him. She had even gotten to the point of addressing him by his first name! He had to do a double take after he heard her say it for the first time.

Regardless, he cared about her, he just hoped she felt the same.

Without much care Jaune stepped towards the two large metal slabs and nearly jumped out of his skin when an automated voice started to speak.

'I'm sorry, but your DNA does not match up with any known individual in our database. If you are a new inductee, please scan your identification card on the console located to your right.' After it was done, a small panel came out of the wall.

He looked back to Weiss who had already been looking his way. He nodded to her with his hand outstretched. She nodded back and walked up to stand beside him, handing him the card in the process.

Card in hand he slowly made to put it up to the screen. A small, thin layer of light protruded from the center of said screen, scanning it.

After a few seconds the A.I. came back. 'Access granted, thank you Mr. Songbird'.

The doors then started to part, revealing a very small room. It didn't lead to a hallway or anything of a sort, it was...

"An elevator?" Weiss asked turning to Jaune. "Seems so."

The two teens were extremely befuddled by their new finding. 'What exactly were they hiding here?'

"Well, nothing ventured nothing gained I supposed." She said stepping inside.

He rolled his eyes at her not asking his opinion and just followed suit. When they both were in, there were only two buttons, an up and down arrow. They each shared a glance before Jaune stepped forward and tapped the down arrow.

The elevator responded with the doors closing and the slight jolt of it moving downward. Now they played the waiting game, in silence, or at least Jaune had though they would.

"Really?"

"What?" he asked honestly.

She put her hand on her hip and gave him a look that asked her same exact question.

"Your not even going to say anything?"

"Say anything about what?" He asked again throwing his hands up in mild exasperation.

Weiss just pinched the bridge of her nose. "Your willing to come down here with me without putting up any kind of protest about how we probably shouldn't do something so reckless that could get ourselves killed?"

She herself even knew that this was dangerous, she just couldn't stand for what might become of her families image.

Realization was prevalent on his face when she was done. Now he just needed to get his argument out there.

"Well, I guess you could say there are two reasons why I didn't say anything. One, if there is anything I've learned from knowing you, it's not to argue with you." She gave him an icy glare for that one.

"And two, well I saw that look in your eye upstairs, I may not be the biggest advocate of the SDC, but I assumed, hopefully correctly, that you don't want this to somehow affect the image of your name and company, so I let it slide. Plus I know how you feel. I wouldn't want the same for mine either. We're well known warriors after all."

Her intense glare was then replaced with wide eyes. 'How on remnant could he have possibly figured that out!'

"You are the most perceptively dense person I have ever met in my life."

Jaune scrunched his face in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just forget it." She said facing the front.

He went to question, but remembered the first reason he so blatantly followed her in here, and stayed silent. The silence only continued for a few seconds before she so reluctantly asked, "So...I've seen you've been improving lately."

The reluctance stemming from the fact that they hadn't actually ever had a civil conversation, not counting the one they just had upstairs. Only one that friends would have. Which begged the question, were they friends?

She honestly hoped the answer was yes.

Weiss had never been one for face to face apologies. Her hope was that maybe she could express her apology through her actions, and words if you count making conversation. She was truly sorry for the way she treated him after all. The only thing was she didn't know if he secretly held it against her.

The question honesty surprised the blonde. "Um, yeah I guess I have."

Well that certainly was not the answer Weiss had wanted. "Well, what's it like having Pyrrha as a mentor?" she asked again hoping for a more detailed response.

"To be honest, it's kinda irritating, in a way." he answered, face falling slightly.

Well that's curious. "In what way?"

"Well..." He started, trying to pick his next choice of words carefully.

"Don't get me wrong, she's great, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have made the strides I've made so far."

'Well that's obvious'

"It's just that...do you know what it's like to constantly train and spar with the same person who is leaps and bounds better than you in every way everyday?"

Weiss most certainly couldn't say so, and she thought she knew where this was going.

"It sucks."

She had to raise an eyebrow at that one. "Again, in what way?" She urged.

"It sucks because I know that she is only using less than a quarter of her actual skill when we spar. It sucks because that's all it takes for her to lay me out on my ass every time. It sucks because...because it's a painful reminder that I still have a long way to go before I could even last five seconds against her skill or any of you for that matter. It...it just sucks."

Jaune now had his back against the wall with his head and shoulders drooping. She really didn't know what to do. Just mark that down as another one of the few things Weiss Schnee wasn't very good at. Apologizing, emotional support, and making puns.

Regardless, she tried anyway.

She put a hand on his shoulder, which caused him to look up.

"Look at it this way, every second that you haven't lost means, uh, you've improved...somewhat?"

He stared at her for a few seconds before chuckling lightly, and standing up straight.

"Oh man, you know you aren't very good at this right?" She scrunched her face up at his rhetorical question.

"Well at least I'm trying!"

Jaune having recovered from his small laughing fit, just agreed. "Yeah you are, but for what it's worth, thanks."

For the first time ever after meeting her, she smiled at him, a very small smile that could have been mistaken for a smirk, and nodded. "What are friends for?"

Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow. "Oh, so we're friends now?"

"Were you under the impression we weren't?" She asked, already knowing his answer.

"Uh yeah, you kind of spent the entirety of first semester hating my guts."

Weiss just folded her arms. "Well, we are."

"Fine by me." He said with a huge grin of his own.

Silence returned to the two after their little 'bonding moment' of sorts. That is until Jaune had a concerning thought.

"Hey Weiss?"

"Yes?" She said turning to him.

"How long have we been on this elevator?"

"I...don't know."

"You think maybe-" Just when he thought he was going to be able to finish his sentence, he was interrupted for about the third time today, by the elevator coming to a stop.

The teens looked to each other before reaching for their weapons, reading themselves for any surprises that lie beyond the elevator doors. When the doors opened thats exactly what they got, just not one that could kill you.

In this secret part of the facility was a very large room, probably twice as large as the one upstairs. This one surprisingly didn't have the blood splatter like the other ones did, but rather robot parts scattered everywhere. The room itself was long and wide and made up of more terminals and...life pods?

The walls were lined with them. Each of them had its glass shattered, signifying whatever was in them wasn't anymore. Not to mention that some sort of green fluid that leaked from each as well.

It wasn't until Jaune and Weiss' eyes caught sight of the very end of the room that they knew what the likely cause of all this was. There was one pod laid out on its side that stretched the entire length of the wall and had completely been torn off of whatever it was hooked up to prior to what happened.

"Well, I can say for certain now, that this is something I had expected." Jaune had said.

"Really?" Weiss asked him with a hint of incredulity.

"Oh no, I totally didn't think that a facility that is supposed to be researching Grimm, didn't have something else that wasn't Grimm hidden somewhere when all signs of what happened here point to that exact hypotheses."

"..."

Weiss just stared at him. "That's a bit convoluted, especially for you."

"Hey, I have a lot more going on up here than you think." he said pointing to his head.

"Yeah, sure." She said with faux eye role.

"Well I'll have you know that ever sense the semester started I've maintained an A as my average for each class." He said, standing a bit taller at his proclamation.

She had a look of genuine shock on her face. "Really?"

"Yeah, it turns out if you actually study, it comes easily."

"Sometimes I wonder if your actually being serious with these sudden realizations or just messing around."

'For now I'll just go with he latter.' She thought to herself

"Yeah, well...forget it let's just focus on the task at hand."

They had got a little too caught up in their conversation to realize the gravity of the situation before them.

"Right." At that Jaune started walking down the main isle, which could fit around four people if they were walking side by side. The others were meant for about two. The shear size of the terminals were the main culprit. They were huge compared to the ones upstairs.

They walked with each other down the main walkway until Weiss broke off about halfway down and into one of the smaller isles.

She ran her fingers along some of the various cuts in the machinery while having to ever so often step over a pile of robot. That was another thing that poked at her brain.

If she had done her research, which she had, the models of these robots were Atlesian Knights, the new ones too. She had already seen them in action during the breach, but that was an emergency. Obviously this was too, but there was absolutely no way for Ironwood to ship all of these here that quickly. They had must of already been in service down here, but the question was for how long.

Weiss knew she wouldn't get any answers, not here anyway. Her only true link was Winter and she knew if she had even said one word about this place or about the service records of the Atlesian Knights, she would be be met with big fat Classified.

"Find anything?!" Jaune had yelled from the front of the room.

"Not yet, you!?"

"Nada!"

Damn.

Weiss continued to mull around her area, thinking she should just get Jaune and get out of here. The place gave her the creeps anyway. That was, until she came across a particularly cluttered terminal.

Sprawled out before her were various documents and files she could only assume were meant for the execs sent here. That was indeed the case as the first file she opened revealed her family crest with some wording towards the bottom.

She flipped through the documents, each she really didn't give the time of day, just trying to find something more eye catching. Towards the ends she finally did. It was of what seemed to be of a test run on an animal, a deer to be precise. It read:

Test Subject #343

'The subject prior to testing appears to have been in some sort of accident, likely a run in with a Beowulf. Large claw marks on stomach, various bite marks on legs, and a nasty gash across left eye. After subject was injected with host cells, improvement was noticed almost immediately.'

'Within the first few hours of injection, subject remained in a healthy state, unlike others.'

'Within the next few days the subjects claw marks and teeth marks healed almost completely.'

'Within the next week the slight limp the subject had, likely a bi-product of the teeth marks on its legs, ceased to have any affect on its walking ability.'

'Within the second week the gash on its left eye had completely healed and its eye was fully functional.'

'The subject is now in good health and is still being monitored.'

'While testing was a success, there were a couple of mild side affects.'

-Yellowish tint in eyes

-Mild skin condition

'It can be confirmed that host cells have major regenerative abilities, even when bonding with a foreign cell. Further testing is needed to study any potential long term effects.'

It was also worth pointing out that there was a huge stamp on the top in green that read 'success'.

Weiss was now at the edge of her seat she needed to look at the others, to see their trials and what happened to them. Sadly she didn't get to as a extremely loud noise over came her hearing accompanied by a large flashing red light.

'INTRUDER ALERT'

'INTRUDER ALERT'

'UNAUTHORIZED PERSONAL DETECTED'

The same warning kept repeating itself over and over again. It was starting to grate on her nerves, especially when she realized that Jaune must have done something.

"Ugh!"

Before taking off though, she collected a few of the files and documents and shoved them into her small jacket pocket. It was a very tight fit, but it would have to do. She wasn't about to leave without something as eye catching and interesting.

By the time she had reached the boy the alarm was the only thing that was sounding. He had been standing over a terminal with his hands in his hair.

"What the hell did you do!?"

"I don't know, one moment everything was fine, the next my foot got caught up on some robot wire, I go to catch my fall and it turns out I pressed that instead!" He said pointing to a large red button on the aforementioned terminal.

"How do you manage these things!?"

"I don't know ok, I'm sorry, it was an accident!"

Weiss for the life of her just sighed and didn't say anything else, for sake of not having to yell anymore.

"And besides..." Jaune continued. "it's not like they have much in the way of security!" He finished with his hands motioning around the room.

By the time he had put his hands back up to his ears the alarm stopped and anything went quiet again.

"Oh thank Oum, that was too incessantly loud." Weiss complained

"Yeah, definitely and come to think, of...it..." Jaune had trailed off.

"What?" Wiess asked eyebrow raised.

"Do you hear that?"

Once the ringing had left her hears, she did in fact hear something.

"What is that?"

"I...I wanna say it almost sounds like metal shifting." he answered her uncertain.

All of a sudden the noise stopped abruptly.

The two teens looked at each other, Jaune having shrugged in the process.

It was around that moment that they heard, and felt the loudest thud they ever heard. Eyes wide and uncertain the two of turned around very slowly. What they saw didn't give them any comfort.

It was an Atlesian Paladin.

"Uhh that's a really big robot." Jaune had quietly managed.

The paladin seemed to almost not notice them at first having been arming its weapons for past few seconds.

"Jaune."

The paladin had finished priming itself, glowing red as it decided to finally notice them.

"Jaune."

The paladin lifted its arms up, revealing its main guns on either arm a disturbing sound coming from each.

"Jaune!"

Jaune had only managed to snap out of it before the inevitable happened.

"Move!"

And with that it opened fire.

Chapter end

A/n: Hey guys sorry for the wait on this one. Life and the such having the biggest impact. The only time I'll probably have a consistent update schedule is during the Summer. I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you in the next on!


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